Jess Moskaluke isn't letting success go to her head

Moskaluke is in London, Ont., this weekend for the Canadian Country Music Association awards where she is nominated in three categories — female artist of the year, video of the year and interactive artist of the year.

She has won the female artist of the year in the past two years so to suggest that Moskaluke’s the favourite this year probably isn’t much of a stretch, right?

“Maybe for my family, I guess,” Moskaluke said with a laugh during a recent telephone interview. “Really though, I think there’s a lot of extremely talented artists so I don’t think I’m the automatic favourite.”

Nominated along with Moskaluke in the female artist of the year category are Lindsay Ell, Kira Isabella, Madeline Merlo and MacKenzie Porter. It’s a strong field but for most people in the business, Moskaluke is expected to take the category for the third straight year.

Moskaluke admitted she’s aware of those expectations.

“I don’t know if there are expectations but I feel like there are expectations. That may be inaccurate feelings that I have or perhaps they’re expectations that I’ve put on myself but I do think, to a certain extent, there are expectations,” said Moskaluke. “Especially around here in Saskatchewan where people are so proud, and I’m so thankful for that, because of that, I guess I would be considered the favourite in the province. That would be an expectation, a little bit.”

Should Moskaluke claim the category Sunday night, it would put her in some impressive company. Carolyn Dawn Johnson was the last artist to win the category in consecutive years (2006 and 2007). Johnson and Michelle Wright hold the record for most wins in the category with five each while Terri Clark and Shania Twain have won the category four times each.

Being mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Johnson, Wright, Twain and Clark is almost overwhelming for Moskaluke.

“Those are some pretty heavy hitters. That’s never anything that in a million years that I could ever have imagined,” said Moskaluke. “I’ve had the privilege to chat with many of those women, Michelle Wright especially — we’ve had some really great talks about where country music is going and how important it is for us as females to step up in every aspect that we can.

“It’s pretty cool to be able to have those conversations and to even be mentioned in the same breath as those women. I grew up listening to them and I’m sure they shaped my music and my career.”

Moskaluke had a hectic summer, touring in support of Kiss Me Quiet, which was released on Sept. 25, 2015. The album has spawned three singles to date — Kiss Me Quiet, Take Me Home and Elevator, which is the current single.

As much as she’s known for impressive voice and quality songs, Moskaluke has developed a reputation for her videos. She has been able to a way to connect with her fans, whether it’s a performance video or a story video.

Elevator, her current video, captures the fun of summer. Moskaluke’s management team put out a call on social media for people to serve as extras in the video and they were overwhelmed by the response.

It’s a technique that Moskaluke couldn’t imagined using when she was starting out.

“I still can’t imagine doing that now,” said Moskaluke. “I’m still shocked every time anybody shows up. I say that all the time — we’ve done radio tours where we’ve invited fans to come out or they have to win their way into an event by calling the radio station and the on-air person will say, ‘We’ve got 40 tickets to give away,’ and I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Forty people aren’t going to show up. That’s crazy’ But they do show up and that’s the coolest thing.

“I still can’t wrap my brain around it.”

Moskaluke will also perform on Sunday’s award show, which will be televised on CBC and CMT. She performed previously on the 2014 award show, singing Cheap Wine And Cigarettes, and on the 2015 award show, joining Paul Brandt for I’m An Open Road.

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